Denver's Backup Center Problem Isn't Going Away

Jonas Valanciunas is gone — off to Zalgiris Kaunas after 14 NBA seasons — and the Nuggets are heading into training camp without a credible backup behind Nikola Jokic. That's the plainest way to put it. Valanciunas averaged only 13.2 minutes a game during the regular season, but his role expanded sharply down the stretch, and when Denver needed him most he was already being asked to do more than he could sustain. Now that body of work belongs to someone else, and right now there's no obvious someone else.

The front office has been busy on the wings. Matching Oklahoma City's two-year, $12 million offer sheet to keep Spencer Jones was the right call — it cost Denver a trip above the second apron, but Jones is a rotation piece worth protecting. Signing Lonnie Walker IV last week adds another perimeter option behind Jamal Murray. Those are real moves. They just don't touch the center problem.

What makes this more uncomfortable is the injury cloud over the forwards. Peyton Watson, Aaron Gordon, and Trevon Brazile are all carrying day-to-day designations into August, which means the depth Denver is counting on at wing and forward is also uncertain. The roster is thinner than it looks on paper, and the one position with no margin at all is the one where the team just lost its only proven backup.

My read: the front office still has time before camp opens, and this feels like a situation where they're not done. The center market in August is thin, but so is Denver's insurance right now.